


Regarding Mute!Fic

by celestial_halls



Category: Homestuck
Genre: 3 in the morning, Character Analysis, Mute!John, Muteness, Not a fanfiction sorry, mute!Karkat, mute!dave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-10
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-12 13:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2111928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestial_halls/pseuds/celestial_halls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In response to a similar mind dump by whittler_of_words.<br/>Shit let's be Lalonde.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regarding Mute!Fic

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Psychobabble Bullshit Concerning the 3 Most Popular HS mute!fics](https://archiveofourown.org/works/919386) by [whittler_of_words](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whittler_of_words/pseuds/whittler_of_words). 



> Please read the work this was inspired by first. In order to follow the original steps taken, I am typing at 1:00 in the morning. Coherency is questionable at best, as incoherent as a ten-hour-long drug trip in a carnival ride at worst.

In the Homestuck fandom there are a massive number of AUs and divergences, but a particularly intriguing set are the muteness (or deafness) of one of three characters; John, Dave, or Karkat.   
     Some of the implications of such a disability based on each character's degree of reliance on their spoken words have already been touched on, and I would like to delve a little deeper into that, but first I'd like to address a fact already brought up. That is, that John seems more broken or perhaps 'disabled' that the other two when thrust into such a situation despite his main trait being his cheerfulness and not his way of speech.   
     He is perceived this way, it has been said, because such a disability creates a black hole of sorts in his mind; he bottles every negative emotion up without the outlet of speech. He is often portrayed that way because John's canon character is very happy, and like brighter light casting darker shadow, his cheerful exterior is at least assumed by the fandom to mask a much more subdued interior. This may be part of the reason as to why he seems so much more broken. Another related reason may be that because he comes across as the most juvenille, it's like seeing a child in that situation. Dave and Karkat are perceived as much more resilient characters for various reasons, and so they seem less damaged or affected by muteness despite their heavier reliance on their speech.  
     That said I personally feel that Mute!Dave and especially Mute!Karkat are not portrayed as accurately as they could be. In order to explain this, we have to do the memory thing and think: Why are Dave and Karkat so heavily defined by their speech? Why do they speak the way they do in canon?   
     In Dave's case, his way of speech is deliberately chosen to emulate his brother. It is pretty clear he is not intrinsically a "coolkid" as evidenced by...a lot of things. Fill in the blank there with your favorite piece of "Dave is actually a nerd" evidence. What this means is that if he had grown up mute and had therefore been taught ASL by Bro, he may have actually been a lot less...stoic in real life. ASL is a very expression-heavy language, body language making up a large portion of communication, so while it likely would have been very in-line with the 'Strider Code' to learn and teach deadpan sign language, it is my firm belief that Dave would act at least a little different had he grown up mute.  
     Karkat is the most interesting by far though, mostly because there are generally two versions of him: Troll and Human. As a human his mute characterizations are pretty much on the dot...So long as he actually was born with that 'vast expletive' temper as a human... But here's the thing: the reason troll!Karkat rants is mostly just a "the best defense is a strong offense" strategy, where the offense is literally offensive. In order to protect himself and his blood from Alternia as a whole, he curls up into a prickly porcupine of shout poles and shift keys. Struck dumb, troll Karkat would not have a hard time operating as usual over Trollian, but upon meeting his teammates in game would have been twitchy if not downright terrified. Doubly so if he had been ranting at everyone over Trollian the entire time. Take the knight's sword and shield and he's nothing but a big, slow, shiny target shouting "cull me!" to every highblood within fifty miles of him.   
     As a human, (and admittedly most mute!fic with Karkat are humanstuck) he would have less trouble operating, though would likely be the type to get annoyed by people tiptoeing around his disability like it wasn't even a thing.  
   I've run out of things to say and it's been forty-five minutes so I am stopping now.  
      

**Author's Note:**

> *floats away*  
> Fun fact: This type of exposition was very common during the golden ages of Harry Potter...especially in shipping wars. I was too late to truly be a part of those happy years...*wipes away a tear* So I hope to honor their memory now by writing inane Homestuck psychobabble at two in the morning. *nods sagely*


End file.
